Alternative Economies, Anyone?

Have you contemplated even the slightest possibility that there may be an alternative to capeetalism or communism? Or heard of alternatives?

Adam Smith's capitalism is not the capitalism that surounds us today, and Karl Marx's communism is contrasted with most renderings using the term "communism" which have done so with less concern for the wellbeing of the humans within its domain and rather treat them as subjects of the state, slaves. We must NOT limit our options to just these two polarized and polarizing paradigms, a robust economy and the ubiquity of basic necessities are still quite possible by other means. What have you discovered?

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We are already transitioning out of capitalism as we "knew" it, because there's not much more to capitalize on. It's all been taken. The Robber Barons took control of the world's resources long ago, and have been bleeding the planet dry ever since. When they wrested control of the land from the farmers, and lured everyone into the factories, and paired our "health care" with our steady jobs as a "benefit", we were swiftly returned to feudalism. The guys in charge (Fed, banks, Wall Street, politicians) have pretty much set things up so they always win at our expense. It's basically the laws of entropy 1 and 2...so if we continue to play by their rules, we can never win, much less break even. We can only lose. The only way out of the mire is to tune in, and drop out through the worm holes in our permaculture until we wake up in our own self-sustaining gardens again. Bartering has never been easier, so it seems to me, we could easily go back onto the gold standard and get rid of a lot of inflationary and deflationary monetary practices. Not only do they devalue honest work, we waste energy shipping excessive amounts of things around the globe. The superwealthy ran off with all our money, but they can't eat it, can they? Still, if we don't invest in the family farm, we're in deep manure. Form collective farms, set up a system of work credits, and only use currency when you absolutely have to. That's my economics, and I'm sticking to it.

The following is an exchange between myself and an 83 year old visionary. I include his email to show the generational differences in perceptions. Then I ask how much energy is used staging burning man, rainbow family gatherings and other events that could be conducted locally with web cams sharing concepts for advanced living? How do we influence the decision to expand that energy in that way?

Consider jobs take money and the bad economy has none, just lots of people with needs.

People THINK it's going to become far worse . . . as if they ate money. The economy we had was false, running on stolen, undervalued oil so we could become dependent on it and the THINKING such an economy would allow.

Consider people could decide that it is more economical to not travel themselves and to create whatever they need for themselves right where they are (goods are cheap to move compared to people). Why would that happen? It would happen because we could invent away to help people to change their thinking towards those ways that are most economical and efficient. Thinking that respects needs over wants and elminates entertaining the false economy.

Consider zoning is improperly applied as much as many industrial practices. Only industry that is very noisy or produces noxious by products or needs vast resource that is located in a certain area needs to be isolated from populations. Consider 70% of the travel people do is a waste (see above paragraph) and not necessary and is done to be a part of another group of people or activity they find special. What if they thought the people around them and what they were doing was special because it met the needs of the people there?

What if thinking about needs and more economical ways to meet them was entertaining which encouraged people to want to think that way?

First we should separate wealth from privilege, The moral reason we are told that property exists, is that wealth was made by someone, and so it is their property. It's the old John, Jim, and Dick story. They all live on an island, they all make all of what they need. Then Dick likes fishing and trades John for nets, John loves to make nets, soon all our guys are doing their own thing, all is great! Oh but then Bill, a guy with a big gun, says "I own this island, you guys pay me 50% of what you make, or start swimming". Our old culture, can't cure our problems. My idea goes like this, me and whoever likes this plan, pledge, as I now do, to be growing and foraging all my food within one year. I also pledge, the next year to give harbor and help feed another who has pledged, for one year allowing them to use their money to buy land, or become ready to rewild. In the old culture, all begins with debt and end in debt. If someone had done this for me twenty years ago, think how many freeholders and wild ones, could be helping our transition now.

This is a noble action orientated idea and we think it would be nice if you could post it as a blog titled: The Freeholder and Wild Ones Pledge to Transition!

My idea goes like this, me and whoever likes this plan, pledge, as I now do, to be growing and foraging all my food within one year. I also pledge, the next year to give harbor and help feed another who has pledged, for one year allowing them to use their money to buy land, or become ready to rewild. In the old culture, all begins with debt and end in debt. If someone had done this for me twenty years ago, think how many freeholders and wild ones, could be helping our transition now.